Murder conviction reversed
A split Arkansas Supreme Court today voted 5-2 to reverse the capital murder conviction and life sentence of Kenneth Ray Osburn, who was convicted of the August 2006 kidnaping and slaying of 17-year-old Casey Crowder of Pine Bluff. Her vehicle was found abandoned near Dumas and her body subsequently was found near a canal in Desha County. Here's the decision.
The Court ruled that incriminating statements Osburn gave to police should be suppressed because they came after he'd requested legal counsel and because they were not voluntary, having been coerced by investigators using references to Osburn's family to get his cooperation. The two dissenting justices argued that he had "initiated" the talks with police and thus the statements were admissible. They also said they didn't believe the interrogation had been coercive. Justice Robert Brown, one of the dissenters, said he believed that striking the evidence would make a retrial of Osburn a "remote possibility."
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Reading the two sentences above together, it looks as if the authorities didn't have much hard evidence against Osburn. "Get me a perp I can question, and I don't need no stinking evidence!"
Posted by: williecardnickel![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/arkansasblog/nav-commenters.gif)
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June 25, 2009 09:48 PM
er.........The following two sentences from the decision were somehow left out of my earlier post.
The Court ruled that incriminating statements Osburn gave to police should be suppressed because they came after he'd requested legal counsel and because they were not voluntary, having been coerced by investigators using references to Osburn's family to get his cooperation. Justice Robert Brown, one of the dissenters, said he believed that striking the evidence would make a retrial of Osburn a "remote possibility."
Posted by: williecardnickel![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/arkansasblog/nav-commenters.gif)
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June 25, 2009 09:52 PM